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Hasan al-Basri
Early Islamic scholar (c. 642–728) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Abu Sa'id ibn Abi al-Hasan Yasar al-Basri, often referred to as Hasan of Basra (Arabic: الحسن البصري, romanized: Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī; 642 - 15 October 728) for short, or as Hasan al-Basri, was an ancient Muslim preacher, ascetic, theologian, exegete, scholar, and judge.[1] Born in Medina in 642,[2] Hasan belonged to the second generation of Muslims, all of whom would subsequently be referred to as the tābiʿūn in Sunni Islamic piety.[2] He became one of "the most celebrated" of the tābiʿūn,[2] enjoying an "acclaimed scholarly career and an even more remarkable posthumous legacy in Islamic scholarship."[2]
Al-Hasan al-Basri | |
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![]() Name of Hasan al-Basri with honorifics | |
Tābiʿūn; Theologian, Ascetic, Scholar; Imām of Basra, Lamp of Basra, Leader of the Ascetics | |
Born | c. 21 AH/642 CE Medina, Rashidun Caliphate |
Died | Friday, 5th Rajab 110 AH/15 October 728 (aged 86) Basra, Umayyad Caliphate |
Venerated in | Sunni Islam, Mu'tazilism |
Major shrine | Tomb of Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, Az Zubayr, Iraq |
Influences | Umar ibn Khattab and Ali ibn Abi Talib |
Influenced | Abdul Wahid bin Zaid, Habib al-Ajami, and Harith al-Muhasibi, Amr ibn Ubayd, Abu Hanifa |
Hasan, revered for his austerity and support for "renunciation" (zuhd), preached against worldliness and materialism during the early days of the Umayyad Caliphate, with his passionate sermons casting a "deep impression on his contemporaries."[3] His close relationships with several of the most prominent companions of Muhammad[3] only strengthened his standing as a teacher and scholar of the Islamic sciences.[3] The particular disciplines in which he is said to have excelled included exegesis (tafsīr) of the Quran,[2] whence his "name is invariably encountered in" classical and medieval commentaries on the scripture,[2] as well as theology and mysticism.[2][4] Hasan became an important figure in the development of Sufism[4] with his name occurring "in many mystical silsilas (chains of teachers and their disciples) going back to Muḥammad" in the writings of Sunni mystics from the ninth-century onwards.[3] In the words of one scholar, Hasan stands as the "great patriarch" of early Sufism.[5]
Scholars have said that very few of Hasan's original writings survive, with his proverbs and maxims on various subjects having been transmitted primarily through oral tradition by his numerous disciples.[3] While fragments of his famed sermons do survive in the works of later authors, the only complete manuscripts that bear his name are apocryphal works such as the Risālat al-qadar ilā ʿAbd al-Malik (Epistle to ʿAbd al-Malik against the Predestinarians),[2] a pseudopigraphical text from the ninth or early-tenth century,[2] and another letter "of an ascetic and hortatory character" addressed to Umar II (d. 720),[2] which is likewise deemed spurious.[2]
Traditionally, Hasan has been commemorated as an outstanding figure by all the Sunni schools of thought,[3] and was frequently designated as one of the well respected of the early Islamic community in later writings by such important Sunni thinkers as Abu Talib al-Makki (d. 996),[6] Abu Nu`aym (d. 1038),[7] Ali Hujwiri (d. 1077),[8] Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 1201),[9] and Attar of Nishapur (d. 1221).[10][3] In his famed Ḳūt al-ḳulūb, the most important work of Basran Sunni mysticism, Abu Talib al-Makki says of Hasan: "Ḥasan is our Imām in this doctrine which we represent. We walk in his footsteps and we follow his ways and from his lamp we have our light" (wa ’l-Ḥasanu raḥimahu ’llāhu imāmunā fī hād̲h̲a ’l-ʿilmi ’llad̲h̲ī natakallamu bih , at̲h̲arahu naḳfū wa sabīlahū natbaʿu wa min mis̲h̲kātihi nastaḍīʾ).[3]